Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
So he knew the circuit. “By then we knew some ranchers and they hired us on, and that’s what we do.”
“That’s what you do. Bay makes art. According to Stef he’s incredibly good, and Stef isn’t wrong about those things. What happened to the grant? Stef told me all the money from the auction that day you and your brother tried to buy my wife went to Bay.”
“It was ten grand, and we coasted on it for a long time.”
“Why doesn’t Bay hang out here and work on his art?” Max asked. “Stef would get you a cabin. He’s real high on what Bay does.”
They’d talked about it, and Shane knew he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t freeload off his brother. “We liked to move around a lot when we were younger.”
“And now?”
How much should he tell this man? “I like Bliss. Bay, too.”
“What made you decide on Bliss?”
Shane sighed and turned. “Do you want me to tell you how much I love your sister?”
Max nodded. “Yes. I think it’s time for you to say those words to me so I can start dealing with the situation. I’m damn tired of sitting around and pretending everything is going to work out and that all we need is time.”
He got the feeling Max was talking about more than Brooke. “I love Brooke. I’ve loved her from the minute I met her. But I don’t know that I’m good enough for her.”
“No one is good enough for Brooke.” Max’s lips curled up in a sad sort of smile. “Sorry, but I remember her as a kid who looked up to me and asked me to tuck her into bed and look for monsters under her bed, and now she’s got to deal with the fact that the world can grind you down, and she’s doing it all alone. We built that house because we hoped she would come home one day. But not like this.”
“I think she feels that. I know you’re not saying you’re disappointed with her, but you are disappointed, and she can feel it. And I’m saying this knowing it’ll probably hurt me in the end because you fighting means she spends more time with us, but the truth of the matter is I want her to be happy more than I want her to be with me.” There was a hole in his gut when he said the words. If she left, he wasn’t sure that hole would ever fill again. And there was a reason he’d never pushed Bay to take Stef up on all his offers. “I think Bay’s going to hit it big someday. I think he’ll fit into Brooke’s world.”
“But you won’t.”
“I don’t think I bring much to the table. I think she probably likes having two men around, but I worry I’ll drag them down.”
“Shane, that is the voices in your head talking.” Max made the turn onto Main Street and quickly pulled into The Trading Post parking lot. “That is what your stepmom taught you at a young age. Bay is perfect, and you’re a pain in everyone’s ass. I would bet you feel the need to organize everything and take care of the people you think are important in your life. I would bet you handle things for Bay that he doesn’t even think about, and you’re probably already taking care of Brooke.”
“Why would you say that?” He was confused because it almost sounded like Max was trying to convince him he wasn’t an asshole who should stay away from his precious family.
“Because Bay is way too caught up in his own shit. He doesn’t mean to be, and I’m sure when it’s pointed out to him, he wants to make things right, but you two are what I like to call a symbiotic relationship. There’s nothing wrong with that. Rye and I wouldn’t know what to do without the other. I don’t think we were born whole. Something split, and we had to make sure we survived. Now we have to make sure we properly love and take care of our family. We’re failing.”
He was being hard on himself. “I think Rachel needs a break.”
“I think Rachel needs to be reminded that those kids exist because we love her. She needs to remember that she’s the center of the world and Rye and I need to stop being so stubborn and let our family help us out,” Max admitted. “Look, the truth of the matter is I’m more like Bay. I sometimes get lost in what I’m doing, what I want. For Bay, it’s his art. For me, it’s horses and this business. I’m sure Alexei will tell me a big part of my drive to make it all work is to prove to my father that I’m better than he was. He’s never come back. Never looked for us.”